[CC&FF] Mashwalader Family Game Night
Your preseason preview.
Welcome to the 2023 edition of Crab Cakes & Fantasy Football! I’ve got a lot of ground to cover to get us ready for the season, so let’s jump right in to what you can expect from the 17th edition1 of CC&FF.
LET’S MEET OUR MOTLEY CREW
First, let’s start with an introduction to who you’re going to be competing with for a shot at ‘the belt’.
Who’s Back
Let’s start with the most important returning manager: ME.
That’s right, yo champ is back. If you want this belt, you’re going to have to take it from me. (Metaphorically speaking; I’m a lover, not a fighter, so I’ll happily mail it to whoever wins.)
Also returning from the Mashburn clan are KYLE and BRETT. Last year may have been the worst years they’ve ever had in this league, so this this year they’ll be looking to get their mojo back.
On the other end of the spectrum, and to keep the Frederick County vibes strong, DON and JONG are returning to capitalize what what were easily their best seasons ever in one of my football leagues. We’ll see if they can take that final step this year.
Lastly, because I believe in giving opportunities to historically disadvantaged groups, our league’s cultural exchange program with New Jersey will continue. JUDE hopes to become the first repeating champion since, well, me!2 And DAN will see if he can prove that his fantasy success can extend beyond my baseball league.
Returning Faces
We also have a couple of managers returning from layoffs, both short and long.
First up is VARGO. After a year away studying fantasy football fundamentals in a Tibetan monastery, he’s back to shed the title of ‘longest tenured league member to have never won a title.’
Also, coming out of retirement—and the first, and only, member of the CC&FF Hall of Fame—is my father GREG. That’s right: This year’s league is going FULL MASHBURN. Watch out.
Welcome Aboard
Finally, we have three new members this year. Because I’m a firm believer that Fantasy Football is more fun with family, my wife ERIN, her sister BRITT, and their father ROB will all be joining us this season.
Unlike his daughters, ROB has never played fantasy football before and I’m excited that we’ll be introducing him to the game this year. Because the fantasy football gods have a sense of humor, I fully expect him to win the league this year.
RULES & SCORING
With introductions out of the way, let’s turn to gameplay: Here’s our 2023 Rules and Scoring document.
It’s always best practice to read your league’s rules—I even went through the trouble this year of trying to pare the document down as much as possible—but if you’re looking for the highlights, I’ll be happy to help.
Rosters
Introducing ‘Passcachers’
This year’s biggest change is one I’d flirted with for years and never had the guts to do. But this year it’s finally happening: I’m combing the two ‘WR’ starting spots and the one ‘TE’ starting spot into three new ‘Passcatcher’ spot.
How will this work out? I’m not sure, but it’ll be fun finding out! I always like living on the bleeding edge of fantasy football innovation, and this just feels like where the game is heading and I think it’s worth trying.
A quick note on TE before I move on: with the return to PPR scoring (noted below) you’ll find that 12 tight ends will still end up scoring enough points to warrant being starters for teams when the season is over. It’s just no longer going to be a requirement that you must start one. This should give teams more roster flexibility (especially with bye weeks) and open up scoring a bit3.
Reducing Overall Roster Size
After experimenting with slightly larger starting line-ups and rosters last year, we’re back to our more traditional ‘Nine Starters/Six Bench’ setup. This was basically achieved by removing a ‘Flex’ spot.
Adding an IR Spot
To round things out, we’ve added a second IR spot. This should help protect teams that have some really wonky injury luck—especially to their quarterbacks—with the smaller overall roster size.
Scoring
Return of PPR Scoring
PPR is back. All receptions are now 1 point (and 1.5 points for TE). I just think PPR scoring plays better than half point. And honestly, as unreliable as RB performance and health is, making the game less dependent on RB is going to be a plus.
Regular Season
None.
Postseason
Championship Bracket Change
This is only a minor tweak: The 3rd overall seed will get to pick their first round opponent. This is how we did it in 2021 and I think it was worth bringing back to give more to play for during the regular season.
Transactions
Trade Reviews
It’s probably been a decade since I’ve had to deal with trade drama, and there’s no real point in getting too upset over a trade (or trying to get one over on somebody) in a freakin’ charity league, so I’ve removed any ‘commissioner trade review’ language from the document. Please do not make me have to add it back again next year.
Draft
Goodbye ‘Slow Draft’
At the request of many, we will not be having a ‘slow draft’ this season.
Scheduling is going to be tough (I have both a memorial service in Chicago and a trip to Greece scheduled in August), so please try and be as flexible and accommodating as possible with your draft availability.
Finances
Flattened Payouts Some
It’s not a big change, but this year all teams that make the playoffs will get a ‘payout’ for charity—even if it’s just $25. This means then that the Championship Teams will all be playing for charity contributions while the Vargo Cup participants will all be playing for better draft position.
WHAT’S NEXT
You all know who you’re playing with and what rules you’re playing under. Now what?
Draft Order Draft
Everyone gets to pick their draft slot based on the previous year’s results:
Last year’s Vargo Cup performance (in order).
New managers randomly assigned.
Playoff performance (reverse order).
I’ll be reaching out to everyone this week to pick your position. And remember: we will be using a 3rd round reversal.
Here’s the order everyone will get to pick in based on:
Setting a Draft Date
We also need to get a draft date/time set. This is going to be…painful. But we can do it! I cannot stress enough: please help me out by trying to be flexible.
UNTIL NEXT TIME…
Phew. That was a lot! As always, just let me know if you have any questions! I appreciate you agreeing to participate this year and forgo actual cash prizes for the positive vibes of knowing your (and everyone’s) money is going to a great cause. Thank you.
Goodness, I wish that were a typo.
Humble brag intended.
At least, that’s the plan!